In 1827, an artist was born in the Swiss city of Basel, whose work had a huge impact on the development of painting and on culture as a whole. The name of Arnold Beklin was a household name in the circles of symbolist artists, and Beklin's famous painting "Island of the Dead" became a source of inspiration for many influential figures of world art.
Arnold Becklin
The future founder of surrealism was born into the family of a wealthy silk merchant Kristjan Friedrich Beklin. Arnold Beklin received an art education in Düsseldorf and, despite his unique style and variety of technology, he is considered a Dusseldorf school of painting.
The teachers appreciated Beklin as a very promising student and therefore, while still a student, Arnold often traveled abroad, namely to Brussels and Antwerp, where the young artist copied the great works of Dutch and Flanders artists. Another professional trip in his student years brought Beklin to Paris, where the artist worked for about a year in the Louvre.
In 1850, the artist came to Rome, where classical architecture, a mild climate and rich culture forced him to stay for seven years. In Italy, Becklin married a local girl. They had a large family - 14 children, of which only six reached adulthood. For various reasons, the artist and his family often moved, he spent some time in Weimar, where he taught painting at the academy. In Basel, Becklin was engaged in monumental painting to order, the artist spent the last years in Italy, in his villa near Florence.
Symbolism and the "Island of the Dead"
At the very beginning of his career, Becklin painted landscapes and urban architecture. Over time, his work took on a mythological orientation, but the most famous works of the Swiss painter were attributed to the genre of symbolism. However, he was also very interested in landscapes and motifs of classical mythology. For example, the most famous work of Arnold Beklin's “Island of the Dead” is a painting, which is both a landscape, and a mythological plot, and a complex work with complex, heavy symbolism and a considerable amount of secrets.
In the picture, against a cloudy sky, a small island is depicted washed by a mirror-like water surface. Tall dark cypresses grow on the island, and rectangular openings resembling crypts are visible in the rocks. A wide boat, in which two are located, is headed towards the island along the water surface . One of the figures is wrapped in white cloth, like a shroud, and stands in front of a white rectangular box, similar to a coffin.
Among the many interpretations, the most popular version is a peculiar playing out of ancient Greek mythology. According to her, the souls of deceased heroes, chosen ones of the gods and prominent personalities get a place on a secluded island in the center of the Styx River. A figure in white is often called a guide to the world, another Charon.
The theme of death was one of the most frequent in the work of Beklin. It is noteworthy that before the "Island of the Dead" Arnold Beklin never gave names to his paintings, however, in correspondence with the customer of the first version of the painting, he personally called his work Die Toteninsel. For several years, the artist painted six versions of the picture, five of which were written by Beklin on his own, and the sixth he wrote with his son Carlo in the last year of his life.
First option
Becklin received an order for Isle of the Dead from his patron, philanthropist Alex Gunther. The first version of the picture was painted in the Florentine studio of the artist. Becklin finished the painting in 1880, but, like Leonardo and the Giocconda, he did not want to part with it. The first "Island of the Dead" remained in the possession of its creator until his death.
The reason for this attachment to the picture, many art historians call the death of Beklin’s daughter. The baby died in 1877 and was buried in an English cemetery in the Italian city of Florence. This cemetery is planted with high cypresses, in which researchers of the Swiss Symbolist's work catch the resemblance to the picture.
"Picture for dreams"
While working on the first version of the painting, Beklin's Florentine studio was visited by Maria Berna, the wealthy widow of financier Georg von Bern. Probably, impressed by the unfinished canvas, the woman ordered the artist a "painting for dreams." For her, Becklin wrote the second version of the “island”, which was smaller in size, painted on a wooden panel and made in a different, brighter color scheme.
It is noteworthy that the most mysterious element of the painting “Island of the Dead”, namely the boat with the figure of Charon, was added to the composition at the request of Maria Bern, mourning her husband. Later Becklin drew the boat not only in the second version of the picture, but also in the first.
After the death of the mistress of the second version of “Isle of the Dead”, the painting was donated to a gallery in the city of Lucerne, from where it was bought by the Gottfried Keller Foundation. Today, this famous painting is exhibited at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Picture for Fritz Gurlita
The third, most popular version of the painting was ordered by collector Fritz Gurlit. It, like the first two, was painted in Florence and completed in 1883. This is the lightest of the existing options for the picture. In addition to a lighter gamut, the third version of Ostrov is dynamic: the tops of slender cypresses bend under gusts of wind, and the water surface is no longer so mirrored.
This version is most popular due to the fact that it was with her that Max Klinger made a high-quality etching from which Fritz Gurlit printed reproductions. In the late XIX - early XX centuries, these reproductions were very popular in Germany, from where the fashion for them came to other countries. Today, the Old National Gallery of Berlin exhibits the original paintings in a permanent collection.
Financial difficulties and the fourth version of the picture
A year after completing work on the third version of The Isle of the Dead, the large Becklin family faced financial difficulties that prompted the artist to write another version of his most sought-after painting, which he sold to the famous collector, Baron Hans Thyssen-Bornemisza de Cason.
As materials for the fourth version, Becklin used copper and oil paints. Unfortunately, this picture could not survive the Second World War and was destroyed, presumably in Berlin or in Rotterdam. Only her black and white photograph remained.
Canvas for the Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig
Two years later, Becklin returned to the Isle of the Dead. The painting was commissioned by the Museum of Fine Arts of the German city of Leipzig. It is noteworthy that this time the artist preferred tempera to oil paints.
In the fifth picture, the rower is clearly visible, directing the boat to the island, in addition, the boat itself is much closer to the target, compared to the other four options. Interestingly, while the main composition of the “Isle of the Dead” remains unchanged, there are small, different details in each version. The color scheme of six paintings is also different.
The painting "Island of the Dead" in the Hermitage
The sixth version of the painting by Arnold Beklin, which is in a private collection, but exhibited in the St. Petersburg Hermitage, is the most unknown. Probably because between the writing of the fifth and sixth versions of the "Island of the Dead" almost five years have passed. Interestingly, Becklin co-wrote this version with his son Carlo in the last year of his life.
The cultural phenomenon of its time
By a strange coincidence, it was this picture of Beklin that became a cult work of his time. Namely, “Island of the Dead” - a picture that brought lifetime fame to its author. In certain cultural circles, Beklin was practically deified, calling "Michelangelo of the modern era."
According to contemporaries, “Island of the Dead” is a painting that was an integral part of the interior of both advanced youth and cultural intelligentsia, and the provincial heartland of the beginning of the 20th century.
Reproductions of the third version of the picture scattered throughout Europe. Fans of Beklin's work, namely, “Islands of the Dead” were the greatest cultural and historical figures. Apollinaire, Clemenceau, Freud, Dali, Kandinsky and Rachmaninov were struck by the magical atmosphere of the picture and its influence on the audience. The third option was purchased by Adolf Hitler and hung in the Reich Chancellery.
“Island of the Dead” is a painting that has become a source of inspiration for many other works of art, both in painting and in music, cinema, poetry and sculpture.